Chairperson, hon members and hon Minister, in fact, there shouldn't be houses with defects. It's a long story to explain because it means something is seriously wrong with our system. A builder casts the foundation or digs the trenches. Before the builder casts the foundation, the inspector must inspect and say the trenches are in order and the builder can now cast the foundation. After casting the foundation, the inspector must come back and give a letter for payment. That's how the builder proceeds.
Again, the builder is paid for the work done when he has dug the trenches, and a certificate is issued. One cannot get payment for the trenches one has dug and money for the foundation before one has cast the foundation. So, something is wrong with the system. If things were done accordingly, I don't think we would have so many defects. But we have defects because inspectors are not doing their work. We will also pose some suspicions that they might be receiving something - why do they allow defects to be paid for? This says much should be done before we pass all legislation. These laws were in place before the attainment of democracy. I don't know what went wrong. Therefore, we must help our people so that they shouldn't live in defective houses, with a possibility of them falling upon them.
The Housing Consumers Protection Measures Amendment Bill reflects the commitment by our ANC-led government to ensure compliance and uniformity in the housing construction sector as a whole. The Bill, in terms of its basic tenets and among other things, seeks to provide an improved protection framework for particularly vulnerable groups in exercising their right to housing and on entering the residential market.
I would therefore today like to emphasise the plight and the needs of particularly vulnerable and marginalised groups - rural women, the youth, the elderly, people affected and infected by HIV/Aids and people with disabilities - and how we as government are promoting and responding to their needs.
As I speak, the national Department of Housing is in the process of ensuring that the historical approach in relation to housing delivery is changed significantly. This shift has been necessitated by the need to deepen the understanding on the potential role of women in the housing process, either as residents, as implementers or as regulators. In this regard, we should ensure that more attention is given to the diversity of needs in the housing process as women may have different needs than men.
Furthermore, as the NCOP, we believe that the housing industry is losing out on potential capacity that might contribute towards improved rates and quality of delivery in the face of the growing housing backlog because we are failing to strengthen the representation of women in the housing delivery industry, either as contractors, developers, building material suppliers, financiers or other service providers.
In this regard, we have taken note of the Minister of Housing, Comrade Lindiwe Sisulu's endeavours, particularly with the launch of the National Gender Guideline during the opening of the Women's Build on 14 August 2007 in Orange Farm. These initiatives are indeed laudable and we would like to pledge our support and commitment to other similar initiatives in other provinces. Also, as the ANC we must ensure that it is communicated to our communities in order to generate mass participation.
Let me now return to this Bill before us. Apart from its objects, it further aims to address one of the key objectives of the comprehensive plan for the development of sustainable human settlement, namely enhancing efficiency and capacity for housing delivery as adopted by our government. At the heart of this comprehensive plan is the objective to improve the socioeconomic and environmental quality of South Africans. What is particularly significant to us is the participation of a wide spectrum of stakeholders across the financial, social and government spheres during the writing of this piece of legislation.
We hope that through the Housing Consumers Protection Measures Amendment Bill, a consciousness is developed in relation to social responsibilities and statutory compliance. Furthermore, we trust that it will foster stronger interaction and relations between house builder and house owner, and that it will not, as in the past, unfairly disadvantage the homeowner. The ANC supports the Bill. Amandla! [Applause.]